Lighting fixture housing



June 13, 1950 J. BAXTER LIGHTING FIXTURE HOUSING 2 Sheets-Sheet 1 Filed March 22, 1946 INVENTOR. thCK 5 .BJXTE t. BY

June 13, 1950 J. E. BAXTER LIGHTING .FIXTURE HOUSING 2 Sheets-Sheet 2 Filed March 22, 1946 INVENTOR. I/flCK E .Bnxrsq.

Patented June 13, 1950 UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE) LIGHTING FIXTURE HOUSING Jack E. Baxter, 'Ierrace Park, Ohio. Application March 22, 1946, Serial No. 656,285 a 14 Claims. (01. 240-106) a v This invention relates to housings for lighting fixtures and more particularly to housings for fluorescent lights mounted in' banks on a ceiling orwall.

Banks of fluorescentlights are beingused with increasing frequency in offices and sales rooms where their excellent illuminating properties are particularly desirable. An objection to the use of such lighting fixtures has been the fact that the fluorescent tubes mounted in banks on, a ceiling or wall are rather unsightly. It is, therefore, an object of the present invention to provide a translucent housing for this type of lighting fixture which will permit the use of fluorescent lights with their resultant excellent. illumination, but which will at the same time conceal the fixtures themselves and present a pleasing appearance.

It is a further object of my invention-to provide a housing of the class described which can be made up in a variety of forms by virtue of the fact that it is of unit construction and any desired number of units may be assembled together to form acomplete housing.- Another object of my invention is to provide a housing of the class described which will be extremely light so that it will not require heavy structural framework for its attachment and which, even if it was insecurely attached, could not cause injury to personnel because of its light weight. Further objects include the provision of a structure as outlined above which will be sturdy, neat in appearance, and generally trouble free and which can be installed at a relatively low cost. These and other objects of my inventionwhich will be pointed out morein detail hereinafter or which will be app rent to thoseskilledin the art upon reading these specifications, Iaccomplish by that certain constructionandarrangement of parts of which I shall now des cribe an exemplary embodiment.

Reference is made to the drawings forming a part hereof and in which- Figure l is a plan. view lookingatfla ceiling of an exemplary installation. I

Figure 2 is a cross-sectional line 2,2ofFigure 1.

Figure 3 is an enlarged partial perspective view ofan inside corner of a housing.

Figure4 is a still further enlarged cross-sectional view taken on the line 4, 4 of Figure 3. Figure 5 is a greatly enlarged detailed perspective view of a side wall member.

Figure 6 is a cross sectional view of the same taken on the line 6, 6 of Figure 5. v

view taken on the Figure 7 is a cross sectional view of'the same taken on the line 1, I of Figure 5.

Figure 8 is a partial cross-sectional view of the joint between adjacent rows of panels showing a supplementary supporting arrangement.

Figure 9 is a. partial perspective view of a hanger element used in the arrangement of Figure 8.

Reference is made to my co-pending application entitled Display structure, Serial No. 364,545, filedNovember 6, 1940, now Patent 2,445,552, issued July 20, 1948. .In said co-pendingapplication I disclosed adisplay structure composed of a plurality of panels fastened together, each ofsaid panels being rectangular in shape and comprising a face portion and depending skirt portions, said face portions extending above and.

being angularly inwardly offset from said skirt portions sons to .give the appearance of spaces between adjacent panels. In my present invention I avail myself of a structure composed of a plurality of panels such as those disclosed in said copending application and I provide such an assembly of, panels with a series of sidewall members to form a hollow-open-sided housing of desired configuration, which housing is fastened. tothev ceiling orwall to cover a lighting fixture or fixtures.

In Figure l I have shown a portion of a ceiling 10 havingta plurality of fluorescent lighting fixtures ll mounted thereon. In order to illustrate the versatilityof the present invention, I have. illustrated it as it might be used in a sales room orthelike having an .L-shaped plan. In sucha sales room it would be desirable to have a bank of fluorescent, lights centrally disposed in .each armof the- L; and in Figure 1 I have shown howsuch an arrangement may. be concealed byan L-shaped housing.

Individual panels such as are described in my copending application above .referred to are indicated at I2. Iprefer to. make these panels square, but itwill ,be clear, that they could be rectangular, if desired. While in my said copending application, I disclosed the fastening together of adjacent panels by means of clip members passing through apertures in the adjacent skirt portions, I have found itpreferable .to weld these panels together. I have found that an excellent joint can be produced by dissolving polystyrene crystals in high flash naphtha to a syrupy consistency. The solution is spread over the surfaces to be joined by means of a brush or spatula andthe pieces are held in close con.- tact for some thirty minutes and then cured for about thirty hours. While I prefer to use high flash naphtha, any of the hydrocarbons which will dissolve polystyrene (e. g. toluol, carbon tetrachloride, trichlorethylene) may be used. It will, of course, be understood that the solvent alone could be used, but I have found that a solution of the polystyrene crystals in the solvent has a holding action thereon and prevents too rapid a volatilization.

If a housing according to the present invention, is to be installed over existing lighting fixtures, it will be preferable to rehang the fixtures so that the axes of the fluorescent tubes will lie substantially behind joints between the panels as shown in Figure 1. In this way a substantially shadowless effect is produced, be-

cause a shadow cast by one tube will be illu- I minated by the adjacent tube as will be clear from a consideration of Figure 2. In a new inlocated in the first place.

The side wall members may be varied considerably in design; but I prefer to make them as shown in detail in Figures to 7 inclusive. In Figure 6 it will be seen that the main wall l3 of the side wall member indicated generally at 14 is provided with lateral flanges l5 and with a skirt portion l6 which is offset inwardly, and is narrower than the width of the wall 13. At the top there is provided a fastening flange II.

In order to give additional strength to the fastening flange and to provide for a progressively increasing degree of illumination from the ceiling toward the bottom of the fixture, I prefer to make the main wall [3 of increasing thickness from the bottom toward the top. This increase in thickness could, of course, be in the form of a gradual taper, but I find that a very pleasing appearance is also achieved, if the increase in thickness takes the form of a series of steps as indicated at [8. Thus in the example of Figure 6 there are provided three parallel wall-sections I9, 20 and 2| increasing in thickness in that order so that the fastening flange I! has the thickness of the uppermost section 2| to provide additional strength for fastening to the ceiling or wall.

In assembly, as will be clear from a consideration of Figures 3 and 4 the skirt portions fit on the insides of the respective skirt portions 22 of the panels I2. The lowermost portion IQ of the side wall member rests on the depending skirt portion 22 of'the panels l2 and is flush therewith. The flanges l5 overlie depending skirt portions 22 of the panels !2 which are adjacent to those skirt portions to which the side wall members are fastened; thus a pair of adjacent flanges l5 together with adjacent skirt portions 22 form substantially continuous bracing flanges at right anglesto each other throughout the entire structure. As shown in Figure 3, the side Wall members Is at the corners of a housing are bevelled as indicated at 23 and the flanges I! are drilled as at 24 so that the housing may befastened to the wall or ceiling as by screws or the like 25.

Ina structure such as that of Figure 1 no additional supporting arrangement is necessar because the assembly as described above is extremely stiff and rigid. There will be no tendency toward sagging. In some cases, however, if a housing were made of extremely large size so as to cover, for example, the greater part of a ceiling in a large hall, there would be a tendency to sag and in such case supplementary supporting means would be required. I have shown in Figures 8 and 9 an arrangement suitable for such 4 a purpose. A pair of angular members 26 having the long sides 26a and the short sides 26b are placed back to back and bolted or riveted together as shown at 2?. It will be clear that a T-section could be used in the same manner. The member 26 disposed between adjacent rows of panels with the T-inverted and the arms 26b engaging the shoulders 28 of the adjacent panels. The members 26 may be fastened by any suitable means such ashooks 29 havin gnuts 3D threaded thereon to structural elements "*3 l. "I'he"hook"s' may pass through apertures 32 in the members 26.

The structure of Figures 8 and 9 will not ordinarily be required because the housing according tothe present invention is quite rigid and it will only be necessary in cases where the housing is of great dimensions.

The T -members 26 will not adversely affect the appearance of the housing b casting shadows because light is transmitted through the curved shoulders 33 of the adjacent panels onto the outside of the members 262).

Preferably the side wall members M are made of polystyrene, and arewelded to the respective panels and to each other in the manner described above although other fastening means may be used, if desired. v

It will thus be seen that I have provided a housing for light fixtures which is extremely versatile since it can be made up to a wide variety of dimensions and shapes by virtue of the unit construction whereby all panels are alike and all side wall members are alike; and that the whole housing assembly is extremely rigid and extremely light so that it ordinarily requires no special supporting structure; and that a housing is provided which is neat in appearance.

Having now fully described my invention what I claim as new and desire to secure by Letters Patent is:

1; A side wall member for a translucent lighting fixture having a primary surface composed of a plurality of rectangular, translucent, skirted panels, the skirt portions of adjacent panels being fastened together to form said primary surface; said side wall member having a main wall, flanges along the sides of said main wall, an offset skirt portion adapted to fit inside of, and be fastened to a' skirt portion of one of said panels, said flanges being so spaced that they will overlie the skirt portions of said panel which are adjacent to the skirt portion to which said side wall member is fastened, and a fastening flange along the top of said side wall member.

2; A side wall member according to claim 1, the main wall of said member increasing in thickness from the region of said skirt toward said fastening flange.

3. A side wall member according to claim 1, the main wall of said member increasing in thickness in a series of steps from the region of said skirt toward said fastening flange.

4.- A side wall member according to claim 1, the main wall of said member increasing in thickness from that region of said skirt toward said fastening flange, said side wall member being of translucent molded material. I

5. A side wall member according to claim 1, the main wall of said member increasing in thickness from the region of said skirt toward said fastening flange, said side wall member being made of polystyrene.

6. A side wall member according to claim 1, the main wall of said member increasing in thickness in a series of stepsfrom the'region of said 

